Quailfeather
by starbrc
Summary: Quailfeather is a Pegasus. But she isn't normal by any means. She has never lived with her own kind. She lived with a herd of buffalo for her whole life. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1

I jump up as soon as i hear the bang of a drum. I know immediately what its for, to wake everyone up. I shake the dust off my coat and walk out of the tepee. There is a chill in the air, they must've woken us up early. And waking us up early means one thing, we're moving camps.

Sighing, i look around the camp. Most of the others are packing up already. They're taking down the tepees, kicking dust over the campfires, and filling in the wells. I sigh and start to take down my own tepee. Its smaller than the others, by a good 5 feet. I'm not the height of the buffalo so i don't need the large tepee.

A cold breeze blows through camp, chilling me to the bone. I shiver. I hate waking up early. Not because it's early or dark, i have no problem with those things. I hate the cold. I drag the outer shell of the tepee over to to a pile of tarps. That's just what the outer shell is, a tarp. Then i trot back to the tepee and take the frame down. The frame is just a few poles arranged in a triangular shape. I drag the poles over to a pile of poles.

When I'm done demolishing my tepee i can get ready for the trip. I open my saddlebag and take out my feathered headband. It has a single feather on it, sticking strait up. I put it on. No ones talking. Just bustling around, putting the tarps and poles in piles, filling in the wells, putting the campfires out. I sigh. I may have lived with buffalo for my whole life, but i have never felt truly accepted. But i don't have time to complain, the herd is leaving now.

I tighten my saddlebag and trot over to my place at the front of the herd. I'm one of the fastest of all of us. I can run harder and faster than the others. A breeze blows through, sending a wave of dust through the herd.

Then we start to run. A sound like thunder rolls across the valley. But it isn't thunder. Its the sound of our hooves hitting the ground at once. No other sound gives me more of a thrill.

Then, the sky turn dark. the beautiful blue sky is replaced by a blanket of storm clouds. We keep running though, thunder doesn't need much light to keep going. But it does need unity. And when the first lightning bolt strikes we panic. We start breaking apart. Then another starts. We break off completely. Then the rain starts falling.

I'm blinded. I can't hear or see anything but rain and thunder. I keep sprinting. After what seems like hours my hooves hit something cold and hard. Train tracks. Our campground are near the tracks. I keep running. And running. Until i reach a town.

But I have no idea what town it is. Its large. The buildings are bright colors, the clouds white, and the grass is lush. I can smell apples, like the ones my herd gets annually during our stampede. I start running towards the scent. I can still see nothing. When the scent seems closest, i slam into something and knock myself out cold.


	2. Chapter 2

I wake up several hours later in a bed. I've never slept in a bed before, the buffalo herd i called family had mats on the ground. Its very soft and i sink into it slightly. I'm tempted to go back to sleep. But I'm to confused. Where am I? Where is my family? Where is my headband with the feather? As i feel my head with one of my hooves I realize that it is gone. This brings out the most panic in me. That feather headband is my most prized possession. It has a quail feather. That headband gave me my name. _Quailfeather _But where is it? I force myself out of the bed and start looking.

The more i move around the room the stranger it feels. The walls are painted blue. The blue is deeper than the turquoise gems my family finds but lighter than night. The floors are white and smell slightly bitter. And along the wall near the bed are a bunch of things i can't recognize. They beep like mad. And theres a chair near the doorway. On the back of the chair are my saddlebags. I grab them, pull my turquoise necklace from it and put it on. It smells like the dusty plains i call home and i spend a few seconds breathing it in.

Then i remember my headband and start digging around the saddlebags. _Please be here, _I beg silently. _Please! _ And it is there. I find it tucked deep in a saddlebag. I hurriedly pull it out, smooth out the feather, and place it on my head. Thats when i spot the mirror.

For me, the only times I see myself are during the stampede, when we pass by the lake. And my reflection is so rippled by the stomping of our hooves that i can hardly see it. But my image in the mirror is so clear... I've never seen anything like it.

My coat is a dusty brown color, like a stretch of dirt thats been dried out, cracked, and then ran upon by many buffalo. My mane is a deep brown, just above the color black. It looks a bit like the polished wood bits of trains. My face is painted slightly, with red and white stripes under my eyes. My eyes are blue, like shallow pools illuminated in the moonlight. And on my flank are a set of wings. I know i have wings, but i've never learned how to fly. How could i have?

I need to get out of here. I need to find my herd. But how do i get out? I push on the door. It creaks open and i smile. I tighten my saddlebags and walk out, careful to make my steps quiet. I creep through the halls and spot something, an exit. I sprint out it and towards the most familiar looking place- and apple orchard. The stampede runs through an orchard. every year.

When I get to the orchard i keep running, deeper and deer into it. Until, i find a treehouse. Then i go into it. Its empty. "Good..." I mutter, my voice sounding as if rubbed by sand. I place my saddlebags down and curl up on the rug, ready to nap. Thats when three fillies my age trot in, talking about something called a cutie mark. Then they see me, freeze, and scream. _I'm dead._

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